Quick Movie Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

Most people are probably thinking, "If they pull this off, it could really be great!" And they're right. The unfortunate part is that it's fairly difficult.

My only true frame of reference is the 2005 film version of the Jane Austen classic. And while it's not my favorite film of all time, I can't deny its technical achievements.

This one has completely different achievements. If you're talking about special effects and makeup, then Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is accomplished, sure. But the problems lie in the story itself.

The film starts out as a true black comedy. Taking place in the early 1800s, you see quaint young English women preparing their weapons for battling the undead. But first they must brush each other's hair. It's that sort of humor that runs rampant throughout much of the first act of this film. And it's much appreciated. It's not two stories at once, but the classic Austen story featuring a zombie subtext.

Though, the irony is only entertaining for so long. Then it reaches a point where everything seems forced, and then the dialogue becomes rushed. It just goes through the motions in order to execute both ideas. The long runtime works for the 2005 version, but this one just tries to cover way too much ground in about 30 minutes less.

And it's as though the filmmakers realize that too. So they change it up a bit. 45 minutes into the film we finally get more of the zombie action that we've been wanting. It starts getting good, but then the whole love story suffers because of it. If you can look past the massively uneven tone, you'll tend to enjoy what makes this story unique.

The casting here is pretty good. The chemistry between all the lovers isn't quite there, but Lily James is more than acceptable as Elizabeth Bennet. Although, it's almost humorous to believe that she's supposed to be the less beautiful daughter between herself and Jane.

If you've never been exposed to the original Jane Austen story before, then you may not even get the humor or, better yet, the story in this one. However, the adjustments made to the classic tale in order to fit into this zombie adaptation actually cause parts of the story to make more sense.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies isn't a bad movie. It's actually quite entertaining at times. And It's not that they failed in what they set out to do, I just simply think it's not possible to accomplish the daunting task of combining the two stories. Perhaps it merely has too much to handle in order to have the freedom to be its own movie.
 

Twizard Rating: 72

Quick Movie Review: Cinderella (2015)

Who doesn't love a good redemption story? Especially one where the redeemed is such a likable person. And as most of us have seen Disney's 1950 adaptation of Cinderella, we know that there are several gaping plot holes and improbabilities. It's in the nature of the story. But it's a folk tale that is meant for a higher purpose than to merely entertain--so we don't worry about it too much.

However, these days most films are meant for us to enjoy, so we have to adhere to logical circumstance. And this version of Cinderella does just that. It may play a little bit too loyal to the Disney version, but every change they make is for the better. They manage to dodge most of the plot holes that we were anticipating and ease our minds about them.

The talent is really good all around, with the obvious standout being Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother. But Helena Bonham Carter is a nice treat as the Fairy Godmother, along with the under-noticed Stellan Skarsgard as the conniving Grand Duke. The characters have a bit more depth in this one as well, which ups the redeeming value in the end some more.

This film's biggest fault lies in the first act. With a sloppy time frame and slow build we begin to think that this is just another ploy by Disney to get our money into their pockets. But it starts to prove us wrong about half way through the film.

I wouldn't say that it's an improvement from the original. Maybe it's more detail oriented in the script, but the "original" took a classic tale and recreated it in a way that made it become synonymous with the story. And this film pays great tribute to the beloved classic.

Twizard Rating: 88